Everyone remembers where they were when the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show aired. It was the peak of the "Angel" era. And right in the middle of it was this 18-year-old girl from Colorado with eyebrows that could launch a thousand ships. Taylor Hill. She didn't just walk that runway; she basically became the face of a generation that grew up on Tumblr and Instagram.
Honestly, the Taylor Hill Victoria's Secret connection is one of those rare pairings where the brand and the model just clicked. She was the youngest girl they ever signed to a contract at the time. A literal teenager stepping into a world of veteran supermodels like Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio. It sounds like the plot of a movie, doesn't it? But it was very real, and it changed her life forever.
The "Dude Ranch" Discovery and the 2014 Debut
Taylor's story is kinda wild. She wasn't scouted in a mall or on a street in NYC. A photographer named Jim Jordan found her at a dude ranch in Granby, Colorado. She was 14. She was a gymnast. She had no idea she’d soon be the focal point of a multi-billion dollar lingerie empire.
By 18, she was walking the University of PINK segment. If you watch the footage, she’s beaming. Ariana Grande is performing "Bang Bang" in the background. Taylor is wearing this sporty, neon outfit with a giant "PINK" prop. You could see the star power immediately. Most models are stiff on their first go. Taylor? She looked like she was having the time of her life.
Then came the contract. In 2015, they made it official. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel.
This wasn't just a title. It was a job that required near-constant travel, training like an Olympic athlete, and being the "girl next door" for millions of fans. She once mentioned in an interview how the older Angels became like big sisters to her. Imagine having Gisele Bündchen's former coworkers giving you advice on how to handle fame. That’s heavy stuff for a 19-year-old.
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What People Get Wrong About the "Angel" Life
There’s this myth that being a Victoria's Secret Angel is just about looking pretty in wings. It’s not. It was a massive business commitment.
- The Schedule: They weren't just working one night a year. It was year-round catalogs, store openings, and "Train Like an Angel" PR stunts.
- The Physical Toll: Taylor has been vocal about her background in gymnastics helping her, but the pressure to maintain a certain "look" was relentless.
- The Branding: You had to have a personality. That’s why Taylor won. She was nerdy, she liked Harry Potter, and she was relatable on social media before "relatable" was a marketing buzzword.
People think it's all glitz. In reality, it was 4:00 AM hair and makeup calls. It was flying to Shanghai or Paris and having to look "on" while battling jet lag. Taylor handled it better than most, partly because she seemed to genuinely enjoy the sisterhood of the other models.
The Rebrand and the 2024 Return
We have to talk about the elephant in the room. The brand went through a massive crisis. The show was canceled in 2019. The world changed, and the "Angel" image felt out of touch. Victoria's Secret had to figure out who they were if they weren't just about "the fantasy."
When the show finally came back in October 2024, everyone was looking for Taylor.
She walked. She was there. But it felt different. The 2024 show tried to balance the old-school glamour with modern inclusivity. Taylor walked alongside names like Paloma Elsesser and Gigi Hadid. She looked stunning, obviously, but she also looked like a woman who had outgrown the "little sister" role. She was a veteran now.
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Interestingly, there was a lot of chatter about her absence from certain lineups in 2025. Fashion moves fast. One minute you're the "Most Promising Model" (an award she actually won in 2015), and the next, the industry is looking for the "New New."
Life After the Wings: Tate & Taylor
Taylor didn't just sit around waiting for the phone to ring once the Angel era cooled off. She did what every smart model does: she diversified.
She's an entrepreneur now. Her brand, Tate & Taylor, is a pet lifestyle company inspired by her late dog, Tate. It's actually a pretty cool pivot. Instead of just selling more clothes or makeup, she tapped into the pet community. It feels authentic because she was always posting about her dog anyway.
She also got married in 2023 to Daniel Fryer. Her wedding in Colorado was a massive "fashion moment" in its own right—very Western chic, very much a callback to her roots.
Why We Still Care About Taylor Hill and Victoria's Secret
The Taylor Hill Victoria's Secret era represents the end of a specific type of supermodel. She was one of the last "traditional" Angels before the industry shifted toward influencers and high-fashion "nepotism babies." She earned her spot through a traditional discovery and years of grinding in the PINK catalogs.
Her legacy is being the bridge. She connects the high-glamour, high-production era of the early 2010s with the more grounded, business-oriented world models live in today.
If you’re looking to follow her career or understand her impact, look at her transition from "runway girl" to "brand owner." It’s the blueprint. She used the massive platform Victoria's Secret gave her—which, let's be real, is over 24 million Instagram followers—to build something that will last longer than a 30-second walk in wings.
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What You Can Learn from Her Career Path
- Leverage your platform early. Taylor didn't wait until she was "retired" to start thinking about her own brand.
- Stay authentic to your roots. Even at the height of her fame, she was "the girl from Colorado." People buy into people, not just faces.
- Adapt to industry shifts. When the brand rebranded, she didn't fight it. She evolved with it, appearing in the new versions of their campaigns while building her own side ventures.
Taylor Hill's time with Victoria's Secret might have defined her early career, but it’s her ability to move past the wings that makes her a real icon in the industry today. Whether she's walking a runway in 2026 or running her pet business, she's proven that there's life after being an Angel.
To stay updated on her latest projects, keep an eye on her entrepreneurship ventures like Tate & Taylor, as they represent the future of her brand beyond the fashion industry's seasonal cycles.